


Departure

by Thoughtyouknewr



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: All the others are only mentioned, Angst, But what we have now is #notmyshiro, Character Study, Child Abandonment, Gen, Hurt No Comfort, Keith's bond with Red, Shiro Is A Good Friend, This is entirely Keith centric, This is y'all's warning: Angst, kind of a hopeful ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-01
Updated: 2018-06-01
Packaged: 2019-05-17 01:30:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 946
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14822648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thoughtyouknewr/pseuds/Thoughtyouknewr
Summary: Keith has been watching people walk away for his entire life. For the first time, he's the one leaving.Set as Keith is leaving for the Blades.





	Departure

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own Voltron. If you're reading this anywhere that you had to pay for it, it's stolen. It should only be posted on AO3, where it's free.

Sometimes it felt like all Keith ever did was watch people go. He couldn’t even remember his mother leaving, but it was there in his subconscious. In his heart. She may have had good reason for abandoning him with his father, or she may not have. In the long run, it didn’t really make all that much difference. She was gone either way. 

He _could_ remember his dad. He could remember strong arms shielding him from the world and broad shoulders shaking with the weight of being a single father. He could remember the tense line of his spine as he walked away from Keith. 

After that, it seemed never-ending. There was a stream of people entering and leaving Keith’s life like there was a revolving door. Social workers, foster families, other children: their faces and voice blurred into a indistinguishable soup in his brain. He was alone. Adrift. 

He hadn’t expected the Garrison to be any different. It was just another school, after all. Another group of teenagers who would form relationships that splintered like glass as soon as they graduated. Another set of teachers who thought they had some sort of authority over him even though their contact with him was fleeting as a flighty breeze. 

To his eternal surprise, he was wrong. Shiro had latched on to Keith on Keith’s second day, and quickly decided they were inseparable. Keith had known people like that before. People who thought they could somehow _fix_ him, or that a little bit of friendship would make up for Keith’s entire life. They all grew tired of him quickly. He didn’t expect much out of Takashi Shirogane. 

Shiro had made himself comfortable, and laid siege to all of Keith’s notions of how life worked. He had climbed over or around every barrier Keith threw up. Shrio wasn’t brute force or rude superiority. He was soft creeping ivy; pretty and harmless looking until you realized it had taken root and _changed_ things. 

Keith had thought things were looking up, finally. 

Even watching Shiro board the shuttle for the Kerberos mission wasn’t the betrayal it might once have been. Shiro was coming back. He had promised. 

It made it hurt all the more when he didn’t. Somehow, Keith had come to rely on Shiro. He had _loved_ Shiro in a way he hadn’t dared love anything since his father. He wanted to regret it. He didn’t. 

Finding Shiro had felt like something was going right in his life for maybe the first time ever. Sure, everything else was kind of out of control, but Keith was used to that. He’d lived like a tiny ship tossed around on at the whim of wind, water, and whatever divine power existed for a very long time. He was used to adapting to the situation. Rolling with the punches. 

And for perhaps the first time in his life, someone had _chosen_ him. Shiro, perfect as he was, had originally been directed towards Keith by an instructor. The other Paladins, Allura, and Coran were just kind of stuck with him. But _R_ _ed_? Red chose him. She could’ve had any sentient being in the entire universe, and she settled for _him_. _No one_ had ever done that before. 

It had felt like acceptance and affirmation. Like he actually _mattered_. And he could actually _feel_ it. Red was in his mind, his soul, maybe. There was no deceit or ulterior motivation. It had settled Keith like nothing he could remember. 

But then the losses started, and Keith felt like everything was shattering around him. Shards of his carefully constructed safety rained around him as Shiro went missing again, and Red gave him to Black. 

Keith didn’t _want_ Black. He didn’t want the responsibility, or the power, or the thrice damned _abandonment_ of Red. She didn’t see it like that, he knew. She thought of it as lending. Like Black would take Keith for awhile, but she was waiting in the wings. Like he would come back. 

Keith didn’t _care_ how she felt. She wasn’t the only being involved in this equation. Keith was an equal in their relationship, and he’d been given no choice. He’d been shunted to the side _again_ for reasons he couldn’t understand. He wasn’t meant to be a leader. Someone else would’ve done better with Black. Keith didn’t want anything extra. He just wanted to keep what he already had. 

On top of Shiro’s disappearance, it felt like the highest betrayal. 

He still wasn’t ready to forgive her when they found Shiro again, but it turned out it didn’t matter. Black refused Shiro. 

Keith couldn’t understand why, at first. Shiro’s bond with Black had only possibly been outstripped by Keith’s with Red. They had been a perfect team. Shiro had been a perfect leader. 

Had being the operative word. There was something…off about Shiro. Keith felt awful thinking it, but Shiro felt _wrong_. There was a distance there, a coldness that had never been there before. Shiro would, of course, be changed by his latest kidnapping, and Keith should stick by him as he was sure Shiro would’ve done for him. 

Keith started working more with the Blades of Marmora. Shiro wouldn’t let him in. The team was starting to close him out. Black was frustrated. Red didn’t speak to him anymore. They could say that he was the one pulling away, but that was only because they were shoving so hard he couldn’t keep his footing. 

When Black went back to Shiro, Keith breathed a sigh of relief. A huge weight fell off his shoulders. He packed his bags. 

For the first time, he was the one walking away. 

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, so I did warn you about the angst. I don't know though, the ending felt kind of empowering to me. I honestly really love this despite the fact that it's like 10000% more angsty and sad than what I prefer to write. I hope some of you guys enjoyed it too!
> 
> Have a great day!


End file.
